Florida! - How to Celebrate 4th of July with the Grandparents

Since today's my birthday, I thought I'd write this morning about how my family celebrated another birthday... America's birthday!

My favorite way to celebrate 4th of July is on a boat! My family often would charter a sailboat out of San Diego for Independence Day weekend. And on 4th of July night, we would watch the fireworks from the boat. Spectacular!

This year, we still managed to get some boating time in on 4th of July!

Captain and First Mate

We all (even Little Dude) took turns steering the boat. Some of us (Big Dude and Little Dude) drove a little faster than than others. But we do love the feel of the wind blowing through our hair as we speed along the water!

Our little sailor!

The Crew

We saw a lot of really fancy houses along the shoreline, but we saw some other interesting things too...

Left: Vultures! In fact, we saw vultures almost everywhere we went in Florida.
Top Right: A floating BBQ shack. When we went past again, there were a couple boats pulled alongside for lunch... including a police boat!
Bottom Right: We're used to deeper water. It was strange to see people wading knee-deep next to their boats!

And of course, after all the boating fun, we found time to enjoy the fireworks and play with sparklers!

Maggie watched from the safety of the trailer!

Florida! - Enjoying the Humidity

At the end of last year, when my dad decided to "retire" and become a contractor, my parents bought a beautiful 5th-wheel trailer so they could move around the country as needed. This is their home away from home. And this is where we stayed for most of our trip. It was very comfortable despite the fact that there were five of us living there for a week. But to be honest, we actually spent a lot of time outside.

We ate lunch and dinner outside...

Big Dude with a Little Grill. Yes, there was a kitchen, but we really enjoy his masterful grilling skills!

We fed the ducks and turtles that live in the pond just 8 feet from their door...

We took the dog for a walk...

Little Dude, Papa and Maggie

And we went to the pool and the beach...

The beach was only a short walk away from the RV park, so we visited it almost every day. The water here was much warmer than in California. And we could wade out pretty far before the water started getting too deep for our toes to reach the sand. Hubby and I enjoyed diving over the waves while Little Dude played in the surf and sand with Grandma and Papa. It was heavenly!

Since we're from such a dry heat, we enjoyed the chance to experience some real humidity. It actually wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Compared to 118+ degrees of scorching dryness back home, the 95+ degrees in high humidity was tolerable. My skin and hair never felt so silky soft. I didn't have to use lotion or moisturizer the entire time I was there. And since I have straight hair, the humidity actually made it easier to style! Seriously... it tamed my crazy cowlicks! (And my son's!) (Yes, I can hear my friends blessed with curly hair groaning!)

The thing we didn't like about the humidity was the mosquitoes. We all ended up with bites. But a few bug bites and even a little bit of a sunburn was a fair enough price for some glorious days in Florida!

Florida! - Flying the Friendly Skies

What? You thought I was just going to tease you about our Florida trip in my last post and not actually blog about it? Never! Of course, our trip was filled with so many wonderful things that it will take several postings to include it all.

First, let me say that this was the longest vacation Hubby has ever taken in his life - 10 days! (I actually spent 10 days in Italy many years ago with a wonderful friend... but that's another story!) Now 10 days may seem like a long time to spend with your in-laws, but Hubby actually likes my parents. (We both have great in-laws to love!) What made him proclaim this trip to be "the best vacation ever" is that we were able to spend a lot of time just sitting back and relaxing but we also saw a lot of things too.

Big Dude and Little Dude heading through the airport.

Traveling with a little one can be tricky at times... especially when you have to change planes. But luckily, Little Dude is already a seasoned traveller and he loves planes!

Little Dude and Big Dude burning off some energy during our layover.

His travelling skills and ability to entertain himself really helped when our connection in Tampa was delayed and then not delayed and then delayed again due to engine problems. What was supposed to be a 90 minute layover turned into 5 hours (a couple of those were spent sitting on the plane)! But Little Dude's charming personality and patience through the whole ordeal earned him one of those big bags filled with about 20 smaller bags of pretzels. Little Dude even gave our flight attendant a hug when we finally made it to Ft. Lauderdale (and L.D. invited him to his birthday party)!

We were all excited to see Grandma and Papa at the airport, but I'm pretty sure Little Dude was the most excited!

Papa, Little Dude, Grandma, me and Little Dude's prized bag of pretzels!

For most of the trip, I had no idea what time or day it was. No no clocks, no calendars, no email, no web, no facebook, no blogs, no news. I did text a couple times, but other than that, I barely touched my cell phone. It was a low tech vacay for me! Very relaxing! We all need that kind of break every once in a while.

My Calendar Needs a Diet!

It has been a busy month! My friends have barely heard from me. I haven't blogged. Communication is so easily neglected when I'm busy. Seriously, I had no intention of starting a blog and then abandoning it. Unfortunately, I just let myself get overscheduled once again!

My calendar needs to go on a serious diet! The stuff that crowded my time was bad stuff… it was just too much stuff.

First, my mom came to visit for over a week. I really wanted to spend as much time with her as I could. Then I had a week of Vacation Bible School. Ours is conveniently held in the evenings, allowing me to rush from work every night to go teach the 2nd Grade. It was fun, but totally exhausting (especially after working 8 to 9 hours every day)! Plus, it was my first year teaching so I was completely overwhelmed. There was Father's Day, then my niece's birthday. When we had a break, Hubby and I had to do some work on the house. Then we had a few days where I tried to catch up on some housework (ok, so communication isn't the only thing that gets neglected). And it all ended with a 10-day trip to Florida! Yes, that was all within the last 30 days!

My excited 2nd Grade VBS class!

Looking back, I could have saved myself some major headaches if I had simply said "No" to VBS. I never had a problem saying "No" in the past. (It's a skill that took years to master.) However, my sweet, dear friend Judy took over as the VBS director this year and she has a God-given gift of asking people to volunteer... and getting them to say yes.

It's hard to say "No" to someone who sends you Bible verses and tea bags in the mail. It's even harder when it was your own husband who helped teach her exactly how to ask people.

Several years ago (circa 2 B.L.D. - Before Little Dude), Hubby volunteered to ride on the church bus that picked up kids in the surrounding neighborhood every week. He didn't do it because anyone pressured him; he did it because no one else stepped up. (That's just the kind of Knight in Shining Armor he is!) However, when Little Dude came along, he decided to take a break from the bus ministry. Judy, who rounds up these children through her children’s Bible clubs, was really worried about finding someone to fill his position. So Mike helped her out. He went with her to find his replacement.

After that, Judy became an unstoppable force! And I actually said “Yes” to VBS!

Hubby helped by making some of my VBS decorations, like this city scape!

Sure… it made my schedule extra hectic, but VBS was a really good experience. Although challenging at times, the kids were really great for the most part.

In fact, everything that crowded my calendar this past month was stuff I enjoyed doing. But I guess I have to learn the whole “everything in moderation” rule!

Playdate with Destiny

It finally happened. My little boy had his first playdate!

Yesterday, we celebrated Memorial Day with Little Dude's best friend Lily and her mom at the zoo. Lily's mom and I had spent the last couple of weeks talking on the phone and letting Lily and Little Dude talk on the phone to each other (he had the biggest grin on his face during their brief phone conversations). Finally, we were able to find a day to get everyone together!

Little Dude was so excited about his playdate that he woke up at 4:30am asking, "Is the zoo open yet?" To which Daddy (I was barely conscious) replied, "No, go back to sleep." About 5:00am we heard a little voice at the edge of our bed, "Is the zoo open now?" "Not yet." Daddy was awake at this time (he's an early riser) and told our son to go ahead and lay down on our bed with me. After half hour of tiny feet messaging my spine like gentle, little jackhammers, I heard the same question: "Is the zoo open?" This went on every 15 minutes like a crazy alarm clock. "Is Lily at the zoo yet?"

Finally, we got to the zoo and waited out front for our guests to arrive. Little Dude watched the parking lot like a hawk. He inspected every car that drove through the park lot: "No, that's not Lily." He watched every kid that walked past: "Is Lily here yet?" He paced the sidewalk: "When's Lily going to get here?"

Finally, he spotted Lily. They ran to each other and hugged. It was as cute as a Disney movie!

A few days ago, we bought Little Dude red and pink Power Rangers, and he brought them to the zoo so he and Lily could play with them. (After all, their friendship started with playing Power Rangers at school!) He immediately gave the pink one to Lily. How sweet! What girl would ever want a bouquet of flowers when there are Power Ranger action figures to be had?

I was glad to finally meet Lily's mom face-to-face. I hope she liked us as much as we liked her. She's quite a few years young than I am so I was a little nervous that she would think I was too old to hang out with all day. But we had a good time chatting. Plus, it was mostly about getting our kids together.

The whole "playdate" thing is almost like co-dating with your kids. This is a whole new world of "dating" for me. (Playdates, romantic dates, couple dates, and then playdates again. Where does it end?) At least it went well. The kids had a great time.

Little Dude beckoned his friend over to the strange blue frog with a "Ribbit. Ribbit!"

The kids raced each other to different exhibits to see who could get there first. Then they tried to stay in front of each other and proclaim themselves "leader." Finally, we told them they could share and both be leaders. This led to some seriously cute hand-holding as they walked around. Lily's mom said, "Now they're really going to be BFFs at school!"

Just before they decided to be goofy, they were holding hands.

At least they have silliness in common!

Little Dude took his BFF to his favorite place in the zoo... the camel rides!

Then she took him to her favorite spot... the water park!

They stuck by each other's side from ape to zebra. And we all stayed a lot longer than we thought they would last. But alas, all good things must come to an end.

After we said our goodbyes and got in the car, a little voice in the backseat said, "I miss Lily." Then he drifted off to sleep.

Perfect playdate!